"War, Fascism, concentration camps, rubber truncheons, atomic bombs, etc., are what we daily think about, and therefore to a great extent what we write about, even when we do not name them openly. We cannot help this. When you are on a sinking ship, your thoughts will be about sinking ships." --George Orwell (1903-1950)[Thanks to Alex Constantine @ http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/]

Monday, April 16

The alleged shock-rocker has a better grasp of shocking AmeriKKKan post-9/11 realities engulfing us than any CNN or Fox News Network propagandist paid to distract us from what's really is happening to America.

Years ago, I stopped listening to rock musicians or seeking out their music, because I believed the industry was, like other American institutions, increasingly irrelevant, self-indulgent, coopted or moribund--pick your adjective or add your own.

Then I watched Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, an uneven documentary about guns in America linked to the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, with some 9/11 terrorist attack and South Park footage sprinkled in. Moore didn't seem to have a plan for where his documentary was headed.

(That Moore won the Academy Award for Best Documentary for BfC while totally snubbed for Fahrenheit 9/11 speaks volumes of Hollywood's voting process, which official Academy accountant PriceWaterhouseCopper apparently has rigged as successfully as were the 2000 Florida and 2004 Ohio presidential elections.)

But in BfC, Moore interviewed Mason in which he cited an incident to illustrate America's hypocritical view of violence: national leaders and the media ignored that President Bill Clinton either the day of the Columbine massacre (or the day before) had ordered the most murderous US bombing of the Balkan War to focus exclusively on Columbine--and even project national blame on Manson's influence on teen violence at Columbine. That insight from a...well, rock musician--or even average American, for that matter--was refreshing, and I realized then Manson deserved more serious consideration, though I made no effort to follow his music.

Then I happened upon Manson's "Sweet Dreams" music video below, a brilliant visual and lyrical retelling of that 1964 song appropriately recast to the unique political and economic realities besetting a post-9/11 Amerika he suggests is devolving into chaos and perversion.

I have it on good authority (wink, wink; nod, nod) Manson's production crew contracted with the Republican National Committee for a U.S. House of Representative hearing room (since the GOP had left most unused since Bill Clinton's cigar sex episode with Monica Lewinsky) to stage and shoot the video.

If you pay close attention to around the 3:30-minute mark of the clip, you will see Manson make a dramatic statement abroad the gaily attired House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), whose 9/11 money laundering activities between overseeing House sessions still permitted him to make a cameo appearance.

But I think you must agree Manson's version of "Sweet Dreams" is, at minimum, a cynical view of the American Dream gone very, very bad.

Who says Manson isn't for the masses? After all, he went mainstream when Hollywood director Tim Burton, whose films are known to exude Manson-esque sensibilities, recut "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to include Manson's song "This is Halloween" in a new release of the film. I swear this is the blurb accompanying that YouTube clip posted below:

Tim Burton's 'The Nighmare Before Christmas' re-cut with Marilyn Manson's version of 'This Is Halloween' for the re-release of the film in Disney Digital 3-D and 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack.